Bulldog Investors Takes Shot At Richters As Activist Battle With Hill International Inc (HIL) Heats Up

In the seven years between 2007 and 2014 following the Richter’s taking the reins of the company, the compensation of the duo has increased by more than 200% to about a combined $6.41 million according to Goldstein’s proxy statement. The shares on the other hand have slumped by about 47.2% during this period. The activist also drew attention to another incident which highlights the misalignment of the management’s interests with those of the shareholders. The incident in question involved the Richters collectively selling about two million of their shares on November 28, 2008, when the stock price was $5.50, in non-market transactions. The explanation given to the shareholders was that the sale was executed owing to margin calls on personal loans which were collateralized by the company’s shares. Goldstein added to the stories of extravagance by stating that David Richter’s palatial office surpasses in lavishness almost any other CEO’s, and certainly isn’t fit for the head of a small public company, especially one of Hill International Inc (NYSE:HIL)’s stature, which is suffering from a depressed valuation.

Professional money managers are losing interest in the company as well. Among the funds that we track, only 12 had an aggregate investment of $23.23 million in the company at the end of March, down from 13 firms with $24.67 million in holdings at the end of the previous quarter. Peter Schliemann‘s Rutabaga Capital Management is the largest stockholder of the company within our database, holding about 3.57 million shares valued at $12.80 million as of March 31.

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